Ballast-spreading device



B. W. STRAW BALLAST SPREADING DEVICE Filed July 2, 1927 4 Sheets-Sheet 10 O O O 0 0 TOP 0; RA 4.

Oct. 30, 1928.

B.'W. sTRAw v BALLAST SPREADING DEVICE 4 Sheets-Sheet Filed Ju ly 2,1927 Oct. 30, 1928.

B. w. STRAW BALLAST SPREADING DEVICE Filed July 2, 1927 4-. Sheets-Sheetv3 B. W. STRAW BALLAST SPREADING DEVICE '4 heets-sh Filed July 3 192,7

ummmmul Q 1 Patented Oct. 30, 1928.

UNITED STATES 1,689,806 PATENT OFFICE.

BERNARD w. srnaw, or MOUNT AIRY. MARYLAND, lissrenon 'ro STRAW BALLASTDELAWARE.

Application filed July 2,

manipulated, and to afford controlling means for ballast delivered tothe roadbed.

A primary feature of the invention consists in providing the ballastspreader with rollers which are adapted to contact wlth the .tops of thetrack rails over which the car sists in providing the bottom of thecentral passes, thereby facilitating movementof the spreaderalon'g thetrack and relieving its bottom from wear when, as is sometimes the case,it is necessary to position the spreader in contact with the rails inorder to permit the lading discharge door of a particular car to beopened sufliciently to properly discharge the lading.

Another feature of the invention consists in providing the ballastspreading device with an auxiliary side plate or wall section which isadapted to be positioned so as to prevent the undesired discharge ofballast to the road-bed through the space between the inner ends of thedoor sections of a hopper car. v

A further feature of the invention conportion of the spreader with anangularly movable door formed as a series of sections united to a commoneperating lever the'ends of the door sections being facilitate. theangular movement of rigidly or bar, curved to the door.

A still further feature of the invention consists in the rovision oflevermeans adapted to vertically adjust the ballast spreading device soas to position it in proper operating. re ationto the 'lading dischargeI opening. of t e railway car with which the device isassociated;

()ther features of the invention, relating to advantageous relations ofparts and details ofconstruction, W111 hereinafter appear and be pointedout in the claims.

' form of constructiomFigure 1 is an eleva- In'. the drawingsillustrating'a preferred DISTBI'BUTER CORPORATION, OF WILMINGTON,DELAWARE, A CORPORATION OF BALLAST-SPREADING DEVICE.

1927. Serial No. 203,118.

tional view of the mechanism looking toward the side of the car.

Figure 2 is a transverse vertical sectional view showing the distributorin elevation.

Figure 3 is a detail plan view of the central member or pan'portion ofthe spreader. Figure 4 is a detail elevational view of the .end of thedevice.

Figure 5 is a detail vertical section-of the portion of the deviceillustrated in Fig. 4, the view being taken on the line 5-5, Fig. 3.Figure 6 is a detail viewpf the mechanism artly in plan and partly insection on the ine 66, Fig. 5.

Figure 7 is a detail sectional view on, the line 7+7, Fig. 3, a portionof the car hopper and its door being also shown.

Figure 8 is a detail sectional view on the line 8-8 Fig. 3.

Figure 9 is aline 99, Fig. 3.

Figure 10 is adetail sectional view on the detail perspective view of,

.one of the door sections of the angularly movable door, together with aportion of its operating lever.

Figure 11 is a detail view on the line 11-11, Fig. 2. p

In the drawings 1 indicates a railway car of the well known twin hoppertype provided with a hopper 2 from which lading is adapted to bedischarged by gravity. The

discharge opening of the hopper is closed A a swinging door 3 whichv ismade in sectlons disposed on opposite sides of the center sillconstruction of the car in the usual manner. It is to be understood ofcourse that this type of car is not illnstrated with intent to limit theinvention to application v thereto, as the invention is oapableof usewith other forms of cars as well.

The ballast-spreader comprises a central portion'or pan member 4 and endwall members 5. The pan-member 4 and end wall sections 5 are providedwithdoors for controlling the discharge from the device of the ballastreceived fr'omthe car; The central ortion of pan member 4 of the deviceis pre erably formed with. a sheet metal floor plate 8 which is flangedupwardly at its sides, the side walls 9 of the pan prferably' beingfashioned as separate pressed metal members to which the flanged marginsof the. floor plate are riveted. The top edges of the side walls 9mayadvantageously be 50 upon plates 18 spaced from the floor plate ofxflanged outwardly for the sake of stiffness as indicated at and saidside walls preferably extend downwardly below the floor plate Band areflanged inwardly at their lower ends as indicated at 11. These lowerflanges 11 of theside walls extend from end to end of the pan andconstitute runners or skids which are adapted to havesliding contactwith the tops of the track rails thereby mit the ballast to be deliveredto the under lyin roadbed. It is for this fpurpose prefpreventing thepan from catching against the side of the track rail when the device isslid transversely of the car beneath a hopper discharge opening. Theextension of the side walls 9 downwardly below the floor plate 8.

also serves to stiffen the pan 4 against distortion. -As shown in Figs.2 and 5, the side walls 9 may advantageously be provided adjacent bothends of the pan 4 with openings 12 forming hand holes enabling workmento readily shift the pan transversely of the car. v

The floor plate 8 is apertured so as to pererab y formed with'a series 0alined openings extending longitudinally ofthe pan, the

intermediate openings 13 permitting the material to be dischargedbetween the rails and the end openings Mallowing delivery of theballastoutside of the rails; The openings 13. are adapted to berespectively closed by doors 15 which are rigidly attached along oneedge to an operating bar or lever 16, thus being adapted to operate asa'unit and in efiect constituting a single door. To permit them toassume an angular position with'respect t o the axis of the pan 4, theends of the dor'sections 15 are rounded at each end, as at 15',

thusenablin'g the effective areas of'the openings 13 to be varied withrespect to each other ermittin'g the amount of ballast and thereb d'vered'between the rails to be which is graduated or controlled sons todeliver more sockets 17 or receiving. a removable operat-.

' materially aid adjacent 'onefrail' than adjacent the other. The endsof-the door 0 rating bar or lever 16 project outwardly eyond theopposite ends of the an and are preferably formed as ing" bar (notshown).- The door sections '15 rest at their ends and are slidablysupporte'd thepanby spacer bars'19 which intervene be tween the endso'fadjacent door sectioiis 15 or between one of said sections and theadjacent door20 of the pan. As-wellshown in Figs. 3, 8; and 9 the doorsupporting, plates 18 and the s acers 19 are riveted to the floor.

- plate 8. I

tion described thesemembersi18 and 19 serve 11 addition to performingthe functo s iffen thep'an against distortion and thus in preventing anybinding of the doors. a

The doors 20 whichare adapted to close the respective openings 14 in theends ofthe bottom of the pan.preferably have a sliding movement only.Each of these doors may be conveniently supported and guided insubstantially the same manner as the door Seetions 15 heretoforedescribed, that is to say,

the inner end of-each door 20 ispreferably slidably sup-ported by itsadjacentsupporting plate 18, while the outer end of each of said doorsis similarly supported by a plate 21 spaced from-the floor plate-of thepan by an intervening bar 22, these two members being riveted to thefloor plate 8.- Each oftli'e doors 21 may be, independently operated inany convenient manner as for exampleby means of a lever 23 rotatablyconnected to the pan by a. p a

pivot rivet 24, the inner end of said lever be lngpi'votally connectedat 25 to the bifurcated end of a link 26, (see Fig. 7) which itself ispivotally. attached at 27 to the door 20. The links 26 are preferablysupported intermediate their ends in suitable guide brackets 28 rivetedto the underside of the doors 20.

At theirouter ends each of the door operating levers 23 mayadvantageously be fash-' ione'd with asocket member 29 adapted toreceive a removable bar for operating the lever. The sockets 29 arepreferably inclined upwardly with respect to the sockets 17' of the dooroperating bar 16 so as to provide Jun ably positioned spacer blocks 30-intervening between said bars and the respective door supporting plates.All of these lever supportingbars are preferablybent upwardly so as to.embracethe side walls or side flanges 9 of the pan to which .they arerigidly'secured,

those indicated at 31 which are about midlehgth of the pan and thoseindicated at 32 which areadfacent theends of the pan pref--'erablycterminating at their upper ends just below the reinforcingflarigeslO at the upper edges of the side wallsgofthe pan, while theinter-mediate bars 33 preferably project upwardly above the side wall 9as at 34." The 11p.- wardly extendin portions 34 of these bars areadapted to e nd under the hopper of the car in overlapped relation to abottom portion '35 of the hopper construction, thus insuring that theballast spreader shall be maintained in proper operating relation to thehopper discharge openings Where; the transversebar's'31', 32 and'33passlieneath the side walls- 9 the lower fiangeslrof the latter are-cutaway (see'Fig. -8i)--so as to cause the bottom 1 surface of the"transverse bars to'- lie in the same plane as the: lower face of theskids or runners formed by said flanges 11. The'upper flanges 10 of thepan side walls are pref- 'erably likewise cut away to permit theintermediate bars 33 toextend above the top edge of the pan.

On the outsideof the pan adjacent the bars 33 are rollers 36 which areadapted to roll upon the rails by which the car is carried if it becomesdesirable to adjust the ballast spreader to so low a position to permitproper opening of the door 3 of the hopper. These rollers are mountedupon pins or journals 37 carried by spaced brackets 38 rigidly securedto the side walls 9 of the pan. The rollers are disposed on oppositesides of the pan and. as well shown in Fig. 7. are normally adapted tocome into contact with the tops of the rails so as to prevent otherparts of the pan from coming in contact therewith. The opposite ends ofeach roller are. however, preferably somewhat coned or beveled as at 39,thus preventing said rollers from catching on the heads of the trackrails when the ballast spreader is shifted transversely of the rail.

Means are provided to prevent accidental escape of ballast from the panthrough the space below the car center sills between the door sectionsof the car hopper door 3, such means (see particularlyFig. 2) preferablybeing formed as a shield or plate 40 constituting anupward extensionofthe side wall 9 of the pan which is remote from the car hopper fromwhich ballast is being received. The shield or auxiliary side wallsection 40 which bridges the space between the hopper door sections ispreferably designed to be detachably mounted upon the pan so as toenable it to be associated with either side wall 9 thereof as occasionmay require, such a construction permitting the pan to be shifted toposition from beneath one pocket to anotherwithout the necessity ofreversing the pan end for end. A simple manner of effecting thisdetachable connection is to rigidly mount upon the outer face of theshield 40 a plurality of angle clips 41 whose free ends are spaced out;wardly from the body of the shield a suffic-ient distance to receive theside wall 9 of the pan. r r The end members or end walls 5 of the bal--last spreadingdevice are connected to the central member 4 preferably bymeans of pins 42 permitting a relative pivotal movement of these partsso as to enable the end wall members 5 to accommodate their position tocars ofslightly varying width. To permit this pivotal or swingingmovement the lower'ends of the end wall frame members or posts 43 arepreferably rounded as indicated at 43. At

their upper ends the end wall members 5 preferably have secured to themshort lengths of chains 44 each terminating in a hook 45,the hooks beingrespectively adapted to connect with chains 46 whose upper ends' aresuitably attached'to the short arm 47 of an operating lever 48 by meansof which the workmen may raise or lower the pan until it assumes thedesired relation to the car body. This lever is pivotally connected at49 to a suspension bar 50 provided at itsupper end with a hook 51adapted to extend over the top edge 52 of the car side. The free end ofthe longer arm 53 of the adjusting lever 48 is provided with an attachedchain 54 having a hook 55 adapted to hook into the links of theneighboring chain i 46. It will be appreciated that-by suitablymanipulating the lever v48 the workman is enabled easily to raise orlower the ballast spreading device. When the device is in properposition of adjustment it is maintained in said position by catching thehooks 55 into suitable links of the neighboring chains 46. When thedevice is to be positioned beneath the car the hooks 45 are connected tothe respective chains 46. the lever 48 is operated to position theballast spreader at the desired height and the lever is 'then securedagainst rotation by means of the chains 54. When the spreader is to beshifted from one hopper to another'the lever 48 is released thuspermitting the ballast spreader to be lowered so as to rest upon therails. 'The pins 42 are then Withdrawn thus releasing the pan section 4from the end Wall members 5. The

doorsmay be actuated by any suitable means, buteach is preferablycontrolled by an oper-' ating lever 57 projectingbeyond the oppositesides of the device as well shown in Fig. 1. Each lever 57 isoperatively, connected to the corresponding door'by a. link 58 pivotallyconnected at 59 to the lever and pivoted to the door at 60. To formfulcrum points for the levers 57 the end face of each of the columns orposts 43 is provided with spaced outwardly projecting pins or studs '61and each lever 57 is provided with suitable holes 62 for receivingsa-idstuds. By this means, as

will be appreciated from an inspection of Fig. 4. the lever 57 wheninserted uponan appropriate fulcrum stud may be-operated from either ofits ends as may be most convenient; and it will also be appreciated thatthe doors 56 may, as desired. be sustained in openpositionbycausingst'uds 61 to project through bothof the openings 62with which each lever is provided. i

- Each of the end wall members5 is preferably provided at its sides withinwardly'pros jecting flanges or bafil'e plates 63 which preferablv' arewider at the bottom than at the top. These members may advantageously'beembodied in the construction as they serve to prevent the. accidentalescape to the roadbed of any ballast which may be dischargedinto the panat points closely adjacent the end wall members 5. p

Iclaim: 1 1. In combination, a railway car having an opening .for .thedischarge of ballast or the like, and a ballast spreading device-adaptedreeeive ballast discharged through said opening and deliver it to theroadbed, and means for suspending said device beneath the car,

spreading device, and means for preventing rotation of said lever whenthe device is in to receive ballastdischarged through said operativeposition. I

opening and deliver it to the roadbed, said device including a panmember having an opening in the bottom thereof, and a sliding door forsaid opening, said door being curved at its ends so as'to permit it toshift its angular position in its plane of operation.

2. In combination, a railway car having an opening for the discharge ofballast or the like, and a ballast spreading device adapted to receivebal ast discharged through said opening and deliver it to the roadbed,said devicevincluding a pan member formed with a floor-plate having aplurality of openings therein for permitting delivery of ballast to theroadbed,-and door means for controlling the discharge of ballast throughthe openings I in the floor plate, said door means comprising anoperating bar and aplurality of door sections connected to said bar,each of said door 30 permitit to assume diflerent angular posiwardlyextending bafile plates.

sections being provided with rounded ends to tions.

3. In combination, a railwav car having an opening for the discharge ofballastor the like, anda ballast spreading device adapted to receiveballast discharged through said opening and deliver it to the roadbed,said de' vice including a pan member, and end-wall members secured tosaid pan member at opposite ends of the latter, each-Jot said end wallmembers-being provided with a door for'con-v trolling the discharge ofballast endwise of the device and having at its opposite sides in- 4. Incombination, a railway car having an opening for the discharge ofballast or the like, a ballast spreading device adapted-to receiveballast discharged through said open-- ing and deliver. it to theroadbed, and means for adjustably suspending said device from the car,said' means including "a lever operatively c'onnectedto said device, v

5.v In combination, a railway carhaving an opening for the" discharge ofballast or the like, a ballast spreading device adapted to re c'eiveballast discharged through said open-' ing and deliver it to theroadbed, and means for suspending said device fromthe' car, said I:nieans including'a bar adapted. to be supported by av portion oi the"car, a lever pivotally connected to said bar, and means connecting saidlever with the ballast-spreading device.

a ;6. In combination, a railwa' gearhaving an opening .for' thedischarge 0 ballast or ,the'

like,"'abal1ast spreading device adapted to 7. In combination, a railwaycar having an opening for the discharge of ballast or the like, aballast spreading device adapted to receive ballast discharged throughsaid opening" and deliver it to the roadbed, and means for adj ustablysupporting said device from the car, said means including asuspension-bar having a hook adapted to extend over the upper edge ofthe car side, a lever-pivotally connected to said-bar, a plurality ofchains connected .to said lever and respectively connected to hookscarried bychainsattachedto the device, and means for gipreventingrotation of the lever when the device is in adjusted position.

8. A ballast spreading device adapted to extend transversely of thetrack beneath a rail- I Way car, said device including a pan member ingadapted to be operated from the end'of the device and being providedwith means for cooperating with a removable operating bar. 9. A ballastspreading device adapted to extend transversely of the track beneath arailway car, said device including a pan memher having openings in thebottom thereof permitting the discharge of ballast to the roadbed, doorsfor said openings, and rollers positioned so as to be adapted tocooperate with the rails of the railway track.

10; In combination, a railway car having an opening for the discharge.of ballast or the like, and a ballast spreading device adapted toreceive ballast discharged through said openings and deliver it to theroadbed, said device including a pan member having a flo'or plate V andside walls, said floor plate having an open;-

ing permitting the discharge of ballast, a door .for said last namedopening, and an auxiliary side wall member adapted to be detachably Iand to extend upwardly there'r rom.

connected to'oneof the side walls of the pan 11. A ballast spreadingdevice involving a pan member having a floor plate, side walls and endmembers, said side walls having portions extending below and spaceddownward' an 1y from the under side of the floor plateconstituting-skidsfor the device. v V 12.' A ballastspre'ading deviceincluding a pan memberha'ving .a floor plate, i Wa and end walls,and'provided with transversely extendin bar s extending under the floorl n sp ace relation thereto, the lower en I the side walls bein 5 aplurality in substantially the'saxne plane as the lower aces of saidbars.

.. 13. A ballast spreading device including a pan member having a floorplate formed with. of openings-permitting ballast .to be discharged tothe roadbed, doors for said openings; supporting plates for thedoorsspaced downwardl from said floor plate, and spacers interpose betweensaid supporting plates and the floor plate. 1

.7 14. In combination, a railwa car having I y .an opening for thedischarge of allast or the a and extending like, a ballastspreadin vundert e car transversely vof the track on which the car is supported,said device being positioned in they path of ballast discharged ,fromthe car, ling the discharge from, said device of the ballast receivedfrom the car, and rollers carried by said device for cooperating withthe rails of the track.

' Intestimony whereof I 'aflix my signature.

BERNARD W; 's'riiAw.

device movable with means for control- 7

